Megadeth’s David Ellefson Speaks to High School Students About Drug Addiction + Recovery

Students at an Arizona high school were given a massive treat when Megadeth's David Ellefson dropped by for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With the goal in mind of positively impacting the young minds, Ellefson shared stories of his past drug and alcohol abuse along with his continuous path of recovery.

Members of Megadeth experienced serious drug and alcohol issues even before releasing their debut album, 'Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!' For Ellefson, however, his struggle with mind-altering substances began at age 15. “I was 15 when I started drinking," Ellefson told the students. "I started smoking pot when I was 16 and just followed that with cocaine and heroin. Heroin is an insidious and sneaky drug, and I was completely strung out on it.”

Ellefson continued, “When I finally hit that bottom, I said, ‘Lord, please help me.’ I woke up the next day and I didn’t do drugs and I didn’t drink. I didn’t on day two, or day three. Now I’m 24 years sober -- but it’s one day at a time.”

The bassist went on to further unmask the face of addiction. “It likes to get you alone, because when you’re alone it will talk to you and try to take you back to it," Ellefson describes. "While it can make you feel unique, addiction takes away our uniqueness. We’re like any other junkie -- the best part of us goes away. I have a lot of friends in the business who are just like I am. You don’t know if you’re going to take a drink, then get in the car to drive home and kill somebody, or kill yourself, but it happens. You don’t know if smoking pot one time isn’t going to lead to more. But I can tell you this: the best way to be absolutely sure is to just not start. Just don’t start.” [via Metal Hammer]